Palos Verdes Students Named National Merit Semifinalists

PALOS VERDES, CA — Twenty-eight students at three Palos Verdes high schools were recognized as semifinalists in the 70th annual National Merit Scholarship Program, officials announced Wednesday.

The 16,000 semifinalists are one step closer to securing one of the 6,870 National Merit Scholarship awards worth nearly $26 million. Finalists will be announced and awarded next spring.

Over 1.3 million high school juniors from 21,000 high schools entered the 2025 National Merit Scholar Program when they took the Preliminary SAT. The current selection of semifinalists represents less than one percent of high school seniors.

In Palos Verdes, these students were recognized as National Merit Scholar Semifinalists:

Palos Verdes High School

• Fu, Michael Q.
• Kao, Olivia J.
• Tydlaska, Avery K.
• Yu, Allison S

• Hatch, Bryce
• Lee, Diane
• Matsunaga, Noah
• Saket, Ryan
• Segil, Jack
• Yoon, Ashton

• Aye, Emily Y.
• Baghoolizadeh, Neekta S.
• Chai, Meizhu
• Choo, Ray Z.
• Espinoza, Leila M.
• Fast, Charlotte M.
• Lee, Abigail F.
• Lin, Brandon K.
• Lin, Juliette J.
• Lu, Eric Y.
• Ma, Jacob A.
• Monzon, Aaron S.
• Rhoades, Alena C.
• Shu, Mason W.
• So, Hyunbin
• Tom, Bryce R.
• Wang, Angelina Y.
• Xu, Zhia

To become a finalist, semifinalists and school officials must submit a detailed scholarship application that includes the student's academic record, participation in school and community events, leadership abilities, employment and any honors or awards received.

More than 15,000 students are expected to advance to the Finalist level and will be announced in February. National Merit Scholars will be selected from the group of finalists.